Expo Farce (Part One)

The Stark Industries headquarters building, also Stark Tower, is located on East 45th Street near Manhattan Central Station in United States New York. Completed in the 1990s, it is approximately 350 meters tall and has 89 floors.

Howard, the founder and owner of Stark Industries, originally bought a piece of land east of Grand Central Station and planned to build a new headquarters for his car company. Later, on Obadiah's advice, it was transformed into the tallest building in New York City at the time, becoming one of the most famous landmarks on the New York skyline.

Unfortunately, Howard did not live to see the building completed. After Stark grew up and took over the Stark Industries, he renovated the building several times. Now, it is a giant building that integrates high-tech laboratories, the group's headquarters, and commercial office buildings.

Many New York also jokingly call it the "Triangle Tower" because the Stark Tower is shaped like a right triangle. The building on the east side is taller, with floors 79 to 89 housing Stark's personal laboratories, while the building on the west side is shorter and houses commercial office space, where Stark Industries employees work.

While the design makes the building look somewhat strange, it is very practical. The two buildings are connected but do not interfere with each other. Although it was criticized by many landscape architects when it was built, who believed that the oddly shaped building ruined the beauty of the New York skyline, today Stark Tower has become an indispensable part of New York tourist guides.

The first Stark Expo was organized by Howard Stark in 1981. Before the 20th century, the Stark Expo was the world's largest industrial trade fair.

After Howard's death, Tony Stark, who inherited the Stark Industries, was not particularly fond of holding industrial expos. Consequently, the Stark Expo lost its former glory in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Even today, at a press conference at Stark Tower, facing flashing lights and microphones, Tony Stark said:

"The most important component of human industrial development has been forgotten for many years, and I bear a great deal of responsibility for this. What disappoints me most is that since the death of the founder of Stark Industries, I have not heard of any industrial expo in the world that has stepped forward to fill this void..."

"And now, I'm going to tell you that you're about to receive what may be the most important invitation of your lives. You will witness firsthand just how much human industrial development has advanced. If the past few decades of hiatus were my oversight, then I'll show you with a Stark Expo..."

Stark glanced around; the reporters around him were all staring at him in silence.

The reporters were very familiar with Stark, but most of the time, Pepper would stand in front of them and explain that Stark's dirty deeds wouldn't have much of an impact, and then a drunken Tony would be dragged up from backstage to give the reporters a few perfunctory words.

But now, all the reporters could see that the Mr. Stark in front of them was somewhat different.

Stark used to be very arrogant. He often said things like, "Ordinary people can't understand me," "You never know what changes my inventions will bring to mankind," or "Those little things don't matter at all. I'm about to change the course of human industrial development."

Arrogance is his trademark, and frivolity is his synonym, but this time, Stark's tone was very different, even drawing the attention of reporters who had heard all sorts of celebrities make all sorts of excuses.

"There are many rumors in this world that are hard to distinguish between true and false, and your job is to spread them. But these things can never really change the world. You can't do it, Ivan Vanko can't do it, and neither can the Air Force, Army, and Navy behind him."

Finally, Stark said into the microphone, "... but I can."

Stark picked up an invitation from the table and showed it to the reporters, saying, "This is a ticket to the Noah's Ark's Ark of the new century. If you don't want to board, then stay in the decaying waves and wait to die."

Countless flashes went off, the sound of cameras clicking and a cacophony of questions echoing through the air. Stark's calm face was captured and frozen in newspaper after newspaper.

The newspaper screen flickered, the hand holding the newspaper lowered, revealing Peter's face behind it. He took a bite of his hot dog and said to Gwen beside him, "I never expected you to have gotten tickets to the Stark Expo. I thought..."

Gwen shrugged and said, "There's been a lot of news about Stark lately, and I'm also quite interested in the Industrial Expo, so I asked my dad to get me two tickets. Let's go together."

Peter got a little angry when he talked about it, "I think some reporters are distorting the facts..."

"I know you're a Stark fan. You said he treated you well when you interned at Stark Industries." Gwen turned to Peter, Peter sighed, looking somewhat dejected. "Do you also think he's a jerk? But..."

Gwen patted Peter on the shoulder and said, "Many people know Stark from the reports, which may be different from the Stark you know, but that's normal, because people are multifaceted."

"You think they're smearing your idol, but they also think you're whitewashing him. But regardless, what I'm more concerned about is whether Stark can really live up to the bold words he made at the press conference."

Gwen took off her backpack, pulled out two invitations, handed one to Peter, and said, "Take a look at this. If it's too ugly, we won't go."

Peter flipped the invitation over and over, saying, "From the outside, it doesn't look anything special..."

As he spoke, he opened the invitation, and Gwen did the same. Then, somewhat disappointed, she said, "The invitation design is quite ordinary. Inside is just a card that says, 'Please go to the 90th floor of the Stark Industries Headquarters building, East 45th Street, Grand Central Station, Manhattan '..."

"Wait!" Peter interrupted Gwen, picking up the card from the invitation in his hand and examining it closely. He exclaimed in surprise, "90 floors?? Where did Stark Tower get 90 floors? That building only has 89 floors!"

Gwen glanced at it and said doubtfully, "You must have miscounted, right?" Then she looked back at the invitation and said, "Both of our cards say 90 floors, so it shouldn't be a mistake."

Peter scratched his head, his tone uncertain. "I remember there should only be 89 floors, right? At least the elevator must go to the 89th floor."

"Does he intend for us to tour the rooftop?"

"And I remember..." Gwen picked up the newspaper Peter had put down and pointed to a picture of Stark Tower in one of the articles, saying, "Shouldn't the exhibition hall in Stark Tower be on the top floor of the shorter building on the left? How can this building have 90 floors?"

"Indeed, I went to that exhibition hall. It's really big; it should be more than enough to host an industrial expo."

While Peter and Gwen were puzzled, the other people who received the invitations had the same question. Even when they stood on the roof of another building and looked at Stark Tower with binoculars, counting floor by floor, there were indeed only 89 floors, not 90.

Many journalists seized on this point and began attacking Stark, claiming it was a playboy's malicious joke, saying he was doing anything to attract attention and create hype, and some even mocked him as having run out of ideas and making a last-ditch effort.

Indeed, after Stark made those boastful remarks, most industrial groups and large corporations were angered by his arrogant attitude. If Stark's previous words were more like the boasting of an ignorant nouveau riche, the sarcasm Stark launched now, when he was serious, Armor Break.

Because a fact was laid bare before them: a person so utterly rotten had still managed to develop groundbreaking mecha technology, and could even wear that cool mecha suit and become a superhero in New York.

Many scientists and industrial leaders who are not doing so well can't help but fantasize that if they developed this technology, they wouldn't be as naive as Stark, wearing a suit and becoming some kind of superhero.

They fantasize about cooperating with the military, increasing production, controlling a mechanized army, and even ruling the world.

Therefore, they felt even more justified in mocking and ridiculing Stark, believing his choice to be incredibly naive.

Many people say that Stark made the worst choices at every step, leading to its current predicament. They argue that if it were them, they would not only cooperate with the military but also with their peers, joining forces to use the technology to seize the market, divide the monopoly profits, or participate in international political maneuvering.

But no matter what you do, it's definitely more mature than wearing a metal suit and acting as a vigilante in New York.

What's most ironic is that the ordinary people Stark protects and saves don't appreciate his acts of heroism. In fact, the public outcry against Stark and Iron Man is stronger than that against Stark peers.

In short, whether they were colleagues, military personnel, or ordinary people, they all planned to attend after receiving the invitation.

Most of them were there for fun, wanting to see how this notorious playboy planned to cover up his misfortune.

Many self-proclaimed scientists also intend to use their expertise to expose Stark's scam, while many ambitious youth who feel their talents are going to see Stark make a fool of himself, just to comfort themselves by thinking that these rich people are just lucky.

People like Peter and Gwen, who come simply because they are interested in industry and machinery and want to learn and visit, are actually in the minority.